Ozone violation again on the table after EPA walks back delay

A view of downtown from the Northside of San Antonio on Aug. 12, 2016. The ozone levels in San Antonio's causes 52 premature deaths per year, according to a public health study by New York University and the American Thoracic Society.

A view of downtown from the Northside of San Antonio on Aug. 12,...

The Environmental Protection Agency just did an about-face on a federal ozone standard.

Two months ago, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced his agency would extend an October deadline for deciding which U.S. cities do not meet limits on ozone.

Express Newsletters

Get the latest news, sports and food features sent directly to your inbox.

The EPA now says it will make that decision by Oct. 1, according to Thursday’s Federal Register. That means San Antonio is again at risk of being found not in compliance with a 2015 ozone standard. The city is the largest in Texas and among the largest in the U.S. whose air meets all federal standards.

“Nonattainment” is government jargon for not meeting the standard, and it would likely slow federal transportation funding for new road projects and make it more difficult for industries expanding or relocating to San Antonio to get air-quality permits.

San Antonio’s ozone levels are probably not high enough to trigger vehicle emissions inspections, like those in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. Travis and Williamson counties volunteered to require these tests starting in 2005.

Ozone, a key component of smog, irritates and damages the lungs and has been shown to worsen chronic conditions like asthma. San Antonio’s ozone levels have been trending down, but the long-term average used for regulatory purposes is 74 parts per billion, above the standard of 70 parts per billion.

That ozone level could cost Bexar County and its seven neighboring counties $117 million to $1.2 billion, according to one estimate by Steve Nivin, assistant professor of economics at St. Mary’s University.

That is, unless Pruitt changes his mind again.

“The Administrator may still determine that an extension of time to complete designations is necessary, but is not making such a determination at this time,” the Federal Register post states.

Faced with turbulence at the federal level over the ozone rules and a veto by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of $1.5 million in local air quality funding, local officials are spending more money to study San Antonio’s ozone levels and educate the public on what they can do to improve them.

“The fact that nonattainment is now back on the table, I don’t think it’s a big surprise,” said Doug Melnick, the city’s chief sustainability officer.

“We’re not caught with our pants down,” he added. “We’re still moving forward. We’re still doing what we have to do regardless of what’s going on with the federal government, as per the direction of (the City) Council.”

San Antonio’s fiscal 2017 budget included $75,000 for a health study to look at how ozone is affecting residents. That report, by consulting firm Ramboll, is being peer-reviewed and will likely be released in September, Melnick said.

A 2016 nationwide study by New York University and the American Thoracic Institute estimated San Antonio’s ozone levels lead to 52 preventable deaths per year.

Another $75,000 went to communications and education, which included city-sponsored “Breathe Today, SA Tomorrow” ads, local broadcast interviews and roundtables with bloggers, the tech industry and the San Antonio Manufacturers Association, Melnick said.

The city plans to hold community meetings this fall to talk about air quality with the public at large, he said.

San Antonio’s proposed budget for 2018 includes $150,000 for air quality issues.

The money partly replaces cuts of state funding to the Alamo Area Council of Governments, a consortium of cities, towns and counties that has for years taken the lead on local air quality. AACOG is still trying to figure out exactly what the EPA’s intentions are, Director Diane Rath said.

“Clearly, they have withdrawn the stay and they’re moving forward with implementation,” she said. “But when you read his statement, it really does leave quite a few questions.”

The EPA now says it intends to reassess whether some cities have “underlying technical issues,” whether it wants to stick to recommendations made by states and whether some cities have enough information for the EPA to make a decision.

“The EPA believes this re-evaluation will help ensure that more Americans are living and working in areas that meet national air quality standards,” the Federal Register post states.

That may mean the EPA will factor in how much of San Antonio’s ozone-forming emissions come from outside the region, including Mexico, and how unusual weather patterns have caused recent ozone spikes, Rath said.

The EPA’s decision will also affect the state, said David Brymer, director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Air Quality Division.

First, the agency would have to prove to the EPA that it has adequate staff, regulations and air monitors in place, he said. It would then have to develop an inventory of ozone-forming emissions from power plants, industrial sites, cars, trucks, small engines and chemical use, he said. This typically takes three years, he said.

The TCEQ would also assist in assuring that projects funded by the Federal Highway Administration or the Federal Transit Administration would not make local air quality worse. This “transportation conformity demonstration” is usually due within a year of the EPA’s decision on ozone standards, Brymer said.

Coming back into attainment would take at least three years, he said. That’s the amount of time it takes to develop an average level the EPA will use to see if San Antonio’s ozone has dropped below the standard.